If I have a passion in the ministry, it is to preach the Word. It's the only source of authority that I have. I can say all sorts of clever, "relevant" things, but if I'm not declaring God's Word to people I'm no different from any other social commentator or motivational speaker.
So I found it encouraging the other day when a number of us from church were attending an out-of-town family wedding conducted by another pastor. During the wedding, the officiant gave a very down-to-earth talk to the couple on the realities of marriage. But here was the source of my encouragement: one of my members came up to me during the dinner and said, "That was a very practical talk, and it was all probably true, but he made no effort to tie what he was saying to Scripture."
To be sure, Scripture was read in the service, but it was almost an ornament -- there for effect but of little real use. Ironically, another friend told me recently of going to a Unitarian wedding where the "scripture reading" was from "The Velveteen Rabbit." While we would never consider replacing Scripture, we don't seem to mind ignoring it!
And while I'm on this rant, another pet peeve: Churches that loudly proclaim their belief in the Bible but rarely read much of it in a worship service! I've been in services where the only Scripture read was a verse or two by the pastor before his sermon. "Devote yourself to the public reading of scripture," wrote Paul to Timothy (1 Timothy 4:13).
No comments:
Post a Comment